Selecting an eCommerce platform is often a stressful and time-consuming endeavor. From functionality to customization and overall pricing, it’s important to understand how each factor will affect your project and business. You can benefit from looking for a platform that will meet your unique needs and accommodate the growth you want to see in your organization.
eBook
BigCommerce vs. Shopify: Everything You Need to Know
Although there's never a one-size-fits-all solution, we often find that BigCommerce accommodates the needs of growing, mid-market, and enterprise retailers. With more built-in features than most other leading platforms, it allows your business to scale over time.
If you're interested in this platform and want to look at BigCommerce pricing information, we've provided some details on the different plans to help identify the right fit for your business.
BigCommerce Pricing Plans Overview
Here is a breakdown of BigCommerce pricing plans and service levels.
Standard Plan
$29 per month
Known as the platform’s “entry-level” option, the Standard Plan starts at $29 per month and is designed for online stores with sales volumes under $50,000 per year. The entry level is an ideal fit for small eCommerce sites that want to get started online and scale as they grow. It affordably offers the essential tools that businesses need to attract customers.
This plan lacks a few advanced features. For example, it doesn’t provide abandoned cart recovery or the ability to create groups and segments. If you need one of these functions but otherwise prefer the Standard Plan, we recommend connecting directly with a BigCommerce representative to discuss how they can help.
Plus Plan
$79 per month
Built for the “medium online store," this plan starts at $79 per month and serves businesses that generate up to $150,000 in yearly revenue.
This plan includes sophisticated features, such as abandoned cart recovery and customizable grouping capabilities. The plan’s advanced functions can help you segment your audiences and personalize shopping experiences or marketing messages. These extra features work well for businesses looking to expand.
Pro Plan
$299 per month
If your online store generates sales between $150,000 and $1,000,000 per year, the Pro Plan is what you need.
When using the Pro Plan, businesses generating up to $400,000 will pay $299 per month. However, if your company produces more than $400,000 in sales each year, you’ll have to pay $150/month for each additional $200,000 in yearly sales (up to $1 million).
When you hit the $1 million mark in annual sales, you will be upgraded to BigCommerce Enterprise pricing and features by a dedicated BigCommerce account manager.
Overall, the Pro Plan includes many robust features. Customers can sort and filter results by using specific categories (also known as faceted search). Additionally, this plan allows store owners to add third-party SSL certificates and other advanced checkout features. This service level is an appealing option for growing businesses with higher amounts of traffic.
Enterprise Plan
The BigCommerce Enterprise Plan, often referred to as the “VIP” level, is reserved for retailers that generate more than $1 million in annual sales.
This plan offers superior features, including priority support, custom filtering options, a staging development environment, and a dedicated account manager. This individual is available to answer your questions about BigCommerce. They can also resolve any issues while helping you grow and optimize your online store. This plan offers robust customization options and enhanced features for high-revenue businesses, which helps you create a store that precisely meets your company’s needs.
BigCommerce Enterprise pricing starts at $1,000 per month. To get an exact price, you’ll need to contact BigCommerce and request a quote.
BigCommerce Features Across All Plans
As you can see, there are four BigCommerce pricing plans and each option provides different features. Prices and capabilities vary, but all plans include the following benefits:
- Unlimited products and file storage
- Real-time shipping quotes
- Responsive website functionality
- Optimized one-page checkout
- 24/7 live customer support
- No transaction fees
These features help the platform enhance scalability and operational efficiency so that businesses can invest in growth instead of trying to manage limitations. Unlike many competitors, such as Shopify, the platform does not charge transaction fees. This can help reduce the total BigCommerce costs associated with store ownership.
BigCommerce Pricing and eCommerce Platform Pricing Comparison
Before you make a decision, you probably want to see an eCommerce platform pricing comparison. Generally speaking, BigCommerce offers significant savings compared to its competitors. As a SaaS platform, BigCommerce eliminates the need for businesses to separately pay for hosting, patching, security, and updates.
BigCommerce doesn’t lock customers into using a specific payment gateway. Merchants may choose from a selection of 40 integrated payment gateways without incurring any extra charges or fees. The only fee that merchants can expect is the usual credit card charge of 2.2 percent plus 30 cents.
The largest competitors of BigCommerce include Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, and Volusion. All of these platforms are priced very differently from one another and offer varying features.
Shopify
- Basic: $29 per month plus 2.9% and 30-cent transactions
- Shopify: $79 per month plus 2.7% and 30-cent transactions
- Advanced Shopify: $299 per month plus 2.5% and 30-cent transactions
- Shopify Plus: $2,300+ per month plus 2.15% of transactions
Although Shopify's pricing is initially on the lower end compared to its rivals, many merchants fail to recognize the transaction-based parts of Shopify’s pricing. If you choose not to use Shopify's payment processor, you can expect to pay around 2 percent of each transaction (plus the usual credit card charges).
Magento 2 (Adobe Commerce)
As a platform, Magento provides two major plans: Adobe Commerce Pro and Managed Services. The platform will offer you customized prices based on your company’s desired level of support.
Overall, Magento 2's pricing model has three major drawbacks. The platform is complex and labor-intensive, so it requires extensive technical knowledge to update and maintain.
Generally, merchants often end up spending the most money on Magento because of license fees, hosting, security patches, and regular maintenance. Although Magento may be a good fit for some merchants, we believe that SaaS options like BigCommerce provide much better solutions for most mid-market retailers.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free, open-source eCommerce plug-in for WordPress. One of the reasons why small online retailers choose WooCommerce over its competitors is that it’s, well, “free.” However, the actual price differs based on specific retailer needs:
- Hosting fees range from $3.95 to $5,000/month.
- Registering a domain name costs about $15/year.
- Themes cost anywhere from $20 to $100/year.
- Communication, SEO, and security costs vary.
The total expense begins to add up when you include things like plug-ins and support. For example, various payment, checkout, shipping, and marketing tools are plug-ins that come at a price.
Furthermore, WooCommerce often struggles to scale with growing retailers. If your online business sells more than $1 million per year, we highly recommend looking into other platforms that are better equipped to handle your needs.
Volusion
Volusion is very similar to Shopify in terms of pricing. It has four different tiers:
- Personal: $35/month
- Professional: $79/month
- Business: $299/month
- Prime: Customized quote
In addition to your preferred pricing plan’s monthly fee, Volusion charges transaction fees of 0.5 to 2 percent. Additional costs include credit card and add-on fees.
Pricing Plan Summary
Overall, it’s essential to keep in mind when evaluating a platform that, even if it is cheaper initially, it is not always less expensive in the long run. We always encourage retailers to weigh each option carefully and keep in mind that your company’s goal is to grow.
The platform that can handle your online store’s growth and function well without slamming your wallet with hidden fees is going to be the best option for your business.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a BigCommerce Plan
When deciding what BigCommerce plan will work best for your company, you’ll want to consider the unique needs of your business. Calculate your latest numbers and think about:
- Your likely sales volume
- The features your business will require
- Your anticipated growth
These factors help determine what platform would best suit your business. Fortunately, BigCommerce offers considerable flexibility and scalability across its plans, which makes it easy to upgrade and adjust as your business grows.
BigCommerce Customer Support and Resources
In addition to BigCommerce costs, another important feature to look at when considering your platform selection is the level of support that you’ll receive. Community and customer service support can make an enormous difference in your ability to use a platform to its fullest extent.
BigCommerce gives you access to 24/7 live agent support for all plans. Having great customer service allows you to worry less about technical issues and, instead, focus your time and effort on things like marketing and sales.
Support representatives can be contacted at any hour via phone, live chat, or email. You can access these options through your store’s admin page.
Another excellent BigCommerce feature is the community page. It lets retailers share issues they are facing and get help from other users. In our experience, it is a great community where store owners can assist fellow users and learn from each other.
Conclusion
BigCommerce is a leading eCommerce platform that provides online stores with flexibility and scalability. Additionally, it has more built-in sales tools than its competitors. The platform combines these features with advanced SEO and fantastic multichannel integrations.
Whether you are just starting to sell online or are thinking about re-platforming your current site, choosing a platform is a difficult decision with many options to consider.
BigCommerce pricing plans were built with merchant growth in mind. Furthermore, this platform comes with the tools, features, and functions that businesses need to elevate their online stores.
If you’re not sure if BigCommerce is the right platform for you, consider signing up for their free 15-day trial to explore how it works. You can request a one-on-one demo with a BigCommerce representative to go over the features and functions for a better understanding.
Contact us today to learn more about what we offer as a BigCommerce agency and how we can help you choose the plan that works best for you. We could help you get started with an audit and discover how to set your business up for success.
